Deserts are inhabited with several distinct animal species

[deeparrao]

Deserts are inhabited with several distinct animal species,with each their own method of adapting to long periods of moisture shortage.

B. with distinctly several animal species,each with its
C. by several distinct animal species,each with its
D. by several distinct animal species,having each its
E. by several distinct animal species,that each has their

source : GMATprep

OA : C

I would like to know,what is wrong with E , and the usage of "its"(what is its referring to?) in option C

Thanks in advance
Regards

[vinayak.stalwart]

'each' is singular. So the usage of 'their' to refer singular subject is not correct (in E).

In C, its refers to each distinct species.
It means there are different species of animals. Each species has its own adaptation method.

Hope it helps.

VK

[mschwrtz]

That right VK. Good work.

[mschwrtz]

Oh, and also about E:

Even apart from the pronoun problem with "their", you can't have "... plural, that each..." or ..."plural, who each..." etc.

This is OK:
Cavendish's uncharacteristic performance opened a window for the other sprinters, who seized this unexpected opportunity .
"who seized this unexpected opportunity" modifies "the other sprinters."

This is OK:
Cavendish's uncharacteristic performance opened a window for the other sprinters, each of whom seized this unexpected opportunity.
Well, it sounds awful, but it's OK.

This is NOT OK:
Cavendish's uncharacteristic performance opened a window for the other sprinters, who each seized this unexpected opportunity.

Partly this is not OK because the relative pronoun following the plural noun requires that the relative clause modify the plural noun, but the "each" is singular.

Partly it's just not idiomatic. Notice that this is not OK either, even though there's no plural/singular issue:
Cavendish's uncharacteristic performance opened a window for the other sprinters, who some seized this unexpected opportunity.

[tuftsv]

Can someone pls explain how come B is wrong?
is it the idiomatic problem that "inhabited" should be followed "by?"
or is "distinct" is better than "distinctly?"
thanks.

[RonPurewal]

Can someone pls explain how come B is wrong?
is it the idiomatic problem that "inhabited" should be followed "by?"
or is "distinct" is better than "distinctly?"
thanks.

both of those are issues.

yes, "inhabited with" is an incorrect idiom; it should be "by".

also, "distinctly" is an adverb, so that usage would only make sense if "distinctly" were actually modifying the adjective that came afterward.
this is not the case ("distinctly" is definitely not meant to modify "several"), so that construction is incorrect as well.

[DiJ92]

Dear Ron，

Could you please explain the problems in C?

I think that the problem in c is the wrong use of Comma ing. In this case, the sentence means deserts have each its....
Am I right?

Also, if we replace "with its own method..." in C with " having its own method...", is the answer right?

Thanks in advance.

[Chelsey Cooley]

(C) is the correct answer, so there shouldn't be any problems with it.

[RonPurewal]

Dear Ron，

Could you please explain the problems in C?

I think that the problem in c is the wrong use of Comma ing. In this case, the sentence means deserts have each its....
Am I right?


Thanks in advance.

i'll assume you meant choice D, since that's the only choice containing an '__ing' construction.

if that's what you meant, then, yes, you are correct.

be sure to double-check the letters of the choices. (:

[RonPurewal]

Also, if we replace "with its own method..." in C with " having its own method...", is the answer right?

that would be fine, although it's not as good as the current version.

[RonPurewal]

––– YOU DON'T HAVE TO KNOW THIS FOR THE EXAM –––

if the choice is written that way, then it's not as good because it implies that the 'methods' are temporary. (in context it's clear that these 'methods' are permanent characteristics of the animals—results of their evolution.)

i wrote about this here:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/foru ... ml#p112670

––– YOU DON'T HAVE TO KNOW THIS FOR THE EXAM –––

[RonPurewal]

and of course the obligatory warning:

DO NOT 'make your own versions' of GMAC's sentences.
really.
don't do it.

the GMAT only tests 1-2% of the things that can actually go wrong with english sentences (and even that may be an overestimate).
when random users try to 'edit' these sentences, the result is almost always inferior or incorrect—for reasons that the GMAT doesn't test. (unsurprisingly, this is true here, as explained in the post above.)

making your own examples is good, but they should be...
...1/ your own examples,
...2/ SIMPLE examples, each illustrating only ONE concept (that is actually tested on this exam).

as far as the official problems are concerned, the given answer choices should offer more than enough challenges already.
(:

[JayaK668]

Bumping an old thread!
My confusion is with the usage of 'each'. I selected A, thinking 'each' comes after the subject 'animal species'; hence, 'each' here will not have any bearings on the number of subject and thus verb should be plural.
But, after going through this post, looks like, when 'each' is used as a participle, this rule doesn't apply.

I am not really sure anymore how to apply this rule of 'each' specially when it comes after the subject. Please help me in identifying the problem in my understanding. I am having a hard time understanding this.

Thanks!

[Sage Pearce-Higgins]

The simple thing about 'each' that you need to remember is that it's singular. (This is something that I'm sure you adhere to in your daily speech: I reckon that 'Each apples are tasty.' sounds pretty wrong to you.) So, if each is singular, then we need to use the pronoun 'its', not 'their'. This is more subtle, as I most of us wouldn't fuss about a sentence such as 'Each of the people at the party brought their own beer.' GMAT would say that this is wrong, as each person (singular) brought his or her own beer.

Check out chapter 10 of the SC strategy guide for more detail on this topic (but keep your understanding simple!). Also, I can't find anything about 'each' being a participle in this thread - that doesn't make sense to me in any case.

[JayaK668]

Thanks for the clarification Sage!
Let me put this in other way, is 'each with its...' acts like a modifier? If yes, then is it modifying 'animal species'? If you can throw some light on this part of sentence as in what is it used for?
Thanks again!